The Moment of Rising Indonesian Esports in the Middle of Covid-19 Pandemic
The moment of the rise of Indonesian esports was marked by the collaboration of IESPA with LPUDK, and the biggest mobile festival that was attended by 31,391 gamers throughout Indonesia. The limitation when the pandemic made the community more enthusiastic about esports, and the scoop was welcomed by many parties.
The potential for sports esports is now increasingly supported by the Indonesian government, as evidenced by the collaboration between the Fund Management Agency and the Kemenpora Sports Enterprise (LPUDK) with the Indonesia Esports Association (IESPA). There is a fund management and joint sports effort to improve Indonesian esports.
This collaboration was marked by the signing of the MoU from both parties. Agus Hardja Santana as LPDUK Director with IESPA Chairman Liem Che Chien, last Friday (10/7).
In his statement LPDUK saw IESPA already had experience in organizing large events, both nationally and internationally. So that the collaboration is expected to further advance esports.
“The potential for sports esports is very large, especially in terms of the sports industry,” said Agus Mauro, Head of the LPDUK Funding Division.
This moment is clearly one that will support Indonesia’s esports to rise. Moreover, LPDUK also provides management of CSR funds, sponsorship funds, APBN funds, and also several other things such as intellectual property for IESPA.
“In addition to the search for sponsors of national and international events, IESPA also has vacant land that can be built into training facilities or stadiums for sports esports,” said IESPA Diana Waketum who was also present at the event.
More specific cooperation will be followed up from both parties by making a Cooperation Agreement (PKS). So that the collaboration will be maximized, with regular meetings to discuss various matters relating to Indonesian sports.
The vibrant development of Indonesian esports can also be seen with the biggest mobile esports festival competition in Indonesia, the GoPay Arena Championship (GAC). A total of 7,631 teams with 31,391 gamers will compete from 6 July to 2 August.
Not only amateur gamers, there is even an invitation qualifier for Indonesian pro players to enliven the biggest esports competition in Indonesia. Ie as many as 64 pro teams with 264 pro players!
The esports competition, which opened on June 15 by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali, opened three popular mobile games in Indonesia. Namely Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends. No half-hearted total prizes up to Rp 1 billion plus a balance of GoPay up to tens of millions.
“From the number of registrations we have received, we did not expect that the enthusiasm of the people who are serious about playing an extraordinary amount of gaming is growing rapidly,” said Timothius Martin, GoPay’s Senior Vice President of Product Marketing.
He added that the three contested mobile games were the ones that attracted the highest deals on GoPay. Especially in the COVID-19 pandemic, game voucher sales transactions increased dramatically by up to three times.
“The period of March-May 2020 tripled compared with data from the period January-February 2020,” he said.
The public can also watch these various matches live on YouTube GoPay Indonesia and several other channels.
“All activities are carried out online to continue to support the limitation of maintaining physical distance in new normal times,” concluded Timothius Martin.
